If Julia
turns up I'll ask her too.
PARAMORE (flushing with pleasure). I shall be very happy. Thank you.
(He is going out at the right hand door when Craven enters.) Good
morning, Colonel Craven.
CRAVEN (at the door). Good morning--glad to see you. I'm looking for
Cuthbertson.
PARAMORE (smiling). There he is. (He goes out.)
CUTHBERTSON (greeting Craven effusively). Delighted to see you. Now
will you come to the smoking room, or will you sit down here and have
a chat while we're waiting for Charteris. If you like company, the
smoking room is always full of women. Here we shall have it pretty
well all to ourselves until about three o'clock.
CRAVEN. I don't like to see women smoking. I'll make myself
comfortable here. (Sits in an easy chair on the right.)
CUTHBERTSON (taking a chair beside him, on his left). Neither do I.
There's not a room in this club where I can enjoy a pipe quietly
without a woman coming in and beginning to roll a cigarette. It's a
disgusting habit in a woman: it's not natural to her sex.
CRAVEN (sighing). Ah, Jo, times have changed since we both courted
Molly Ebden all those years ago.
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